I am the author of 16 books on artificial intelligence and the semantic web. I use this blog to share ideas and code snippets using my favorite languages: Clojure, Java, Haskell, Common Lisp, and Ruby.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Disney-ABC start to get it

Broadcast TV is dead - let's remember it fondly :-) Seriously Disney-ABC's pilot program to allow free download and viewing of TV shows a day after they are first run makes sense. They will, I believe, use some form of DRM to insure that commercials can not be skipped, but that seems fair enough to me. I bet that only Windows based viewing is possible, but there is always some hope that at least Mac OS X will also be supported. There is a lot of competition for viewers' "eye balls" for all types of entertainment and media, so re-purposing material for free (with commercials) anytime viewing makes sense. I have been enjoying old 1950s Alfred Hitchcock TV shows, both purchased on iTunes music store and rented via Netflix - another good way to enjoy anytime viewing. I also have hopes of more budget/indy productions making it to free or low cost anytime viewing.